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San Jose Coach Todd McLellan's job security didn't look so solid a month ago, when the Sharks were a wobbly 10-10-4. He heard speculation that he'd be fired and handled the uncertainty as best he could. "We just come to work every day. We work hard," he said Monday, then paused. "Those are the cliches that coaches will give you. But when those rumors start, you're not prepared as a coach. You don't get the training for that," he said. "You can spend as many games as you want in the league and learn about power play, penalty kill, matching lines and all that type of stuff, but when that happens you've got to stay focused. You have...

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San Jose Coach Todd McLellan's job security didn't look so solid a month ago, when the Sharks were a wobbly 10-10-4. He heard speculation that he'd be fired and handled the uncertainty as best he could.
"We just come to work every day. We work...

This was the way the Kings can and should play.
They overcame an early deficit Saturday against San Jose, capitalized on their power plays, took only two minor penalties and stifled a high-scoring opponent to win a division game, returning from their...

Times columnist Helene Elliott rates the pluses and minuses in the NHL from the past week:
+ By scoring three times against the Philadelphia Flyers last Saturday, New Jersey forward Jaromir Jagr became the oldest NHL player to record a hat trick, at 42...

How can the Ducks' 10-3 record be the same as it was through 13 games last season yet be dramatically different?
The answer is their willingness to embrace the concept that defense wins championships in the NHL. For inspiration, all they had to do was...

Leaders Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry were thrown out for fighting, and goalie Frederik Andersen gave up multiple goals, giving the Ducks more ejections than points Sunday in a rout by San Jose.
Driven by the urgency of their four-game losing skid, the...

Dustin Brown scored the go-ahead goal 44 seconds into the second period, and the Kings beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-1, in an exhibition game Tuesday night at the SAP Center.
Drew Doughty, in his first appearance of the preseason, scored the tying goal...

There’s a good reason no team has repeated as Stanley Cup champion since the Detroit Red Wings of 1997 and 1998. “It’s hard. Damned hard,” said Kings right wing Justin Williams, who was voted the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs in the dramatic...

The Kings' summer was short but sweet, highlighted by celebrations of their second Stanley Cup championship in three seasons and the wonderful tradition of players and staff members enjoying a day with the Cup.
It was grand, but Coach Darryl Sutter is...

It is proving to be a taut competition, changing by the game, shifting momentum and all that you come to expect at the highest level of sport.
The Stanley Cup Final?
Not exactly.
Things have a way of turning in a playoff series — just ask the San...

The band is getting back together.
Well, at least two-thirds of it.
Based on line rushes at Thursday’s morning skate at Staples Center, it appears as though Kings captain Dustin Brown and center Anze Kopitar will be reunited for Game 4 against the...

SAN JOSE — When there was every reason to give up, the Kings continued to fight.
When they had every excuse to moan about the San Jose Sharks being too fast and too big and too deadly at creating outnumbered rushes — all of which was true in the first...

One season under the NHL’s realigned conference setup probably was enough for Eastern teams to veto future additions from the West.
The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets, who moved from the West to the East before this season, won their new...

SAN JOSE — It started with a surprise lineup change, a surge and a resounding thud.
The sound was the Kings landing in deep trouble after blowing a two-goal lead in Game 2 and becoming utterly discombobulated in a woeful 7-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks...

What started as a game of crazy bounces and deflections ended precisely that way in overtime and put the Kings on the verge of a stunning playoff elimination.
Sharks star forward Patrick Marleau didn't get much on a backhand effort, but he didn't need to...

VANCOUVER, Canada — The panicked hue and cry from the Kings' fan base when defenseman Drew Doughty left Thursday's game in San Jose was almost like that bleak November night in Buffalo when goalie Jonathan Quick suffered a serious groin injury.
...

Whether it's the opponent's top scorer or the Ducks' mood, defenseman Ben Lovejoy has proven in his breakout season he has a firm handle on it.
A confluence of greater maturity and an appreciation of the disparity between Lovejoy's prior NHL job and...

The way the Ducks tell it, their interest in beating the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday is rooted mostly in the perks of what accompanies winning the Pacific Division and not about avoiding a first-round playoff series against the Kings.
“No one’s ever...

The Ducks believe their second consecutive Pacific Division title is different from last year's, which was soured by a first-round playoff exit.
That difference is added grit.
Fittingly, on the night Anaheim clinched the division title Wednesday with...

Controversy usually unfolds AFTER a playoff series starts. But it's already there, riding shotgun with the Kings and Sharks, who will be meeting for the third time in the postseason in the last four years. This all has to do with the knee-on-knee...

Defenseman Cam Fowler, a U.S. Olympian who leads the Ducks in ice time per game, suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss three to five weeks, the team announced Wednesday.
Fowler, 22, suffered the injury Friday...